Mars Orbit

Mars Orbit.  Mixed-media on canvas, 2010. 

This piece started out when I noticed this odd-shaped canvas for sale at my local art supply store.  The long, slim shape reminded me of a desert horizon.  I started the piece by selecting a few samples from my collection of cacti images.  The large cactus "pile" on the left is actually many stacked images, embellished with acrylic paint, colored pencil and gold ink.  The central image was made from a star chart used by the Aztecs to track the orbits of Mars and Earth; the angles of Mars and Earth's alignments informed the eight "points" of the Aztec calendar stone.  The centerpiece itself is a ring from Dior Joaillerie. I'd been saving this image for some time - I'm very in love with it for obvious reasons.  I've always wanted to use it as a god of war.  It seems like a good anchor for my Mars orbit chart.
 

Woods Witch

Woods Witch: mixed media on canvas, 2010.  

This was inspired based on the poem "The Wood Witch" by Madison Cawein, about a witch or perhaps will o' the wisp who lures travelers into her swamp.  It's in a collection of Halloween poems I regularly go to.  This was actually the first painting/collage I'd done in many years.  I'd been wanting to explore mixed-media work, and the idea of a haunted bog seemed to be a good place to start playing with layering techniques.  Below is a close-up of one of the lady slippers:

For a first attempt, I was very happy with this.  I really loved how the lady slippers turned out.